Yes to Genetically Modified Foods

Why make cheap, big, "dangerous" genetically modified foods (GMO's) that you can donate to needy countries, when you can produce "organic" foods that only the rich can afford and no one in the starving regions of the world will be able to take a bite of?

Come on.

You'd rather have people starve to death than give them food that you labeled as "unsafe". And I bet you're using fossil fuel in your cars.

GMO's are there to help people, to feed people.
But, don't copyright plants and animals, unless you actually created, like 90% of it :'p

Facebook Toon Profile Pic Not Advocacy

... yeah.
But it's not about pedophilia either.

Weeks earlier, I saw a "call" to change our Facebook profile images to a cartoon character (that we enjoyed on TV in our childhood). It said it's a call for advocacy on protection against child abuse.
It's a scam, as I've found out. Harmless, but still a scam. Was still happy to have done it nonetheless, even after I found out it was only a joke.

A few days after I changed my profile photo (to Visionaries ='), a Facebook friend posted this profile status (or something like it): "ATTENTION! Just reported that the group that started the post about changing your profile picture to a cartoon character is actually a pedophiles group that is doing this because its easier to get accepted friend requests! Please re-post."

My FB profile image. Leoric by stratosmacca on Deviantart.com.

(Actually asked myself why children would use Facebook other than for playing games... I know of some kids who have Facebook accounts, but they only really use it for games. Sometimes they post comments. Sometimes they post photos, but none of those photos could be something that's "pedophile material". Actually a lot of those are cartoons too... Also, I don't think pedophiles could coax these children to go out for a meet-up... It's just improbable.)

So I went and Googled "scam Facebook cartoon profile", and I was surprised at how far back the scam has been around.

I won't reiterate what the many posts that are around have stated so I'll just let you browse the articles themselves.
Here are the links I visited:

• This first one, seems to be the most "academic". If you have time to read only one, I recommend this to be it: thatsnonsense.com: Facebook Profile Pics Being Changed to Cartoons
• The Truth Behind the Facebook Cartoon Profile Pics Project! Hoax News
• Facebook Cartoon Profile Pic Scam Exposed!
• Facebook Cartoon Profile Picture Week
• Did Pedophiles Start The Facebook Profile Cartoon Trend?
• Why I am not a cartoon character (and other Facebook related madness)

Some people think it's nonsense, that it's a waste of time. Oh, come on! If we get a few people think about these important issues that we previously were unaware of or just purely ignored, then it was worth it.

No To "World Peace"

[Tell you why next time.[12-10-2008]]

[12-12-2008]

What is "world peace"?

Is it the absence of war? No hunger? All in harmony, no unemployment? No one being beaten up, everyone telling everyone else his secrets? No hate all love?

No matter. No one, I believe, has defined it definitely. It's a combination of all of those above and more. There's something about "world peace" that we can't quite get a hold of.

Utopia, right? Paradise. Uh-huh. But, then, we also don't really know what these concepts are.

That's the trouble with "world peace". We don't know what it is. We know some parts of it, but we don't know it fully. And yet we ask for it. So in that regard,

"I want world peace"

becomes a futile statement. It's wishing for something that we don't know about.

It's like being a big boss in a big corporation, having your own big spiffy office and asking your assistant to make you a coffee, "and make it taste like paradise, please".

How do you make coffee that tastes like paradise? I mean, how absolutely -- in the sense that if anyone else tasted it, he will say, "Wow! Utopian coffee!"?

Can your assistant make it?

No.

Can you make it?

You can't.

And, THAT, for me, is the whole trouble with that "I want world peace" sort of thing. Yeah, sure, everyone can dream. Dream on. Dream on forever. (As if you know whether forever exists at all.)

But, then here's another thing: There are dreams that you can achieve and those that you cannot achieve. There are those that you are aiming for and there are those that you really don't care about whether they become true or not -- after all, dreams are free, right? Cheap. Happy thoughts in your head. Wow. It's like The Matrix* in your head. "Ignorance is bliss."

So, believe me, if you "want world peace", you don't care if it becomes true or not. Because, ultimately, you believe so very subconsciously that it's impossible. Because you can't define it.

Wishing for something to happen that you believe can't happen is to absolve yourself from the responsibility of making it happen.

Why?

Because, as I've said, you know that you can't make it happen.

And in that regard, it only means that you want others or someone else to do it for you.

"I wish for world peace" is like saying "Give me world peace" (whoever the recipient of that statement is) -- it's a command, not a statement for action.

So, okay, let's try to define "world peace" again.

It's a condition where everyone respects the rights of others. (support Amnesty International Philippines)

It's where no wife or child or husband is abused. (Stop Violence Against Women, Bantay Bata 163, MenWeb)

No one gets to be a victim of land mines. (go ahead, Adopt-A-Mine)

Guns are not used for homicide, murder, coercion... (Control Arms)

Everyone has decent shelter and living condition. (try Habitat For Humanity, Kiva, ABS-CBN Foundation)

Everyone respects the environment. (support Greenpeace)

There is no corruption in politics and business. (UN Global Compact on Transparency and Anti-Corruption, "No to Corruption" campaign by the UN Convention Against Corruption)

One religion for all, or all religion in harmony, or no religion at all. (practice Religious Tolerance)

Everyone eats well. (serve Food Not Bombs, Say No To GMOs!***)

+FEEL FREE TO ADD MORE+ :')

However you define world peace, if you want it, don't look too much at it as a whole. Look at it in parts. Dissassemble your previous vague or ambiguous definition of that concept and work on those parts instead.

We'll all be better off with you not wishing for world peace but making, say, everyone's hair beautiful all year round**.

So

Screw "World Peace".

'cos there's something better ;') -->DOING SOMETHING for world peace.

[Now you know.

And knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe. (G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra live-action movie slated for release in 2009 :'p)]

_________

*For those who haven't understood the concept of the movie The Matrix (as I haven't on my first viewing :'p), it's about the enslavement of humans by the machines. A war waged between humans and machines; humans cut off the machines' power supply, we were defeated, the machines discovered that our bodies are like batteries (Duracell). So they harvested us for power, created/cloned/grew us in their power farms, and in order for our psyche to not reject the whole setup, machines programmed a dreamworld and fed these into our brains, a dreamworld that we accept.

Rage against the machine.

**No complaints against my barber/hairstylist :'p Just an example. After all I've been my own hairstylist for over 6 monhts now. Hah!

***GMOs=Genetically Modified Organisms, a.k.a. GEO=Genetically Engineered Organisms, a.k.a. GM or GE. Present GMOs are a threat to health, to the environment, and to small farmers; and benefits only governments, large corporations, and other immoral or unethical individuals and organizations.